Just a note. I just altered a post ... not sure if that will show as new. Just dropping this in here.

Worked on the computer with Jerry by phone. His English was excellent, and his patience was almost as good as the techs in India. ;?) We got a few things working. As you can see, I'm back here.

It was brutal. Everything from just getting my wireless mouse to work. Evidently, the one I was using died with the computer! What is the chance. I dug this one out of a drawer in Kelly's office. It's an older version and the wireless reciever is fifty times as large as the deceased one. Whatever, it works. Finally found the house wireless network. Hey - it's not obvious when there's no icon on the bottom line. And ... I had to re-up for an account with e-mail (find all that data).

Now, everything on the screen looks different. I'll be forever loading programs, etc. I still find it hard to believe that more than a handful of people ever get this stuff to work. Man ... wood, steel, leather, brass .... that's where it's at. That's the future! haah. This vodo stuff is for the birds.



Gary

Gives you a warm and fuzzy when you get on a jet and see nothing but computer screens up front in the cockpit, doesn't it? Good thing they don't run on Windows is all I can say.

Yeah, but if you look close they still have one each of the old round dials, still there, with raw data. compass, airspeed, vertical speed and artificial horizon. Just like Gary had to call Jerry. Or wait, write a letter for snail mail. Dory

Gary,

Have you ever thought of using an iPad? Its far more durable then any laptop and with only a few minor exceptions (developing application and conducting security scans), I can do everything I need to do.

Keith

Hi Keith
I absolutely love my iPhone. Do 65% of my business with it now. Only thing is the slower keyboard issue. I'm sure I could use a remote mouse and keyboard with an iPad. Is that correct? Just USB ports?
Now, would it run Photoshop and web writing programs?
All the stuff is magic until it breaks.

Gary

The biggest problem with the Ipads (other than being at least $500 too expensive) is that they're made by Apple. I've never seen a company more eager to punish it's early adopters, and they slice their "upgrades" as thin as possible, in order to punish them over, and over, and over....

And yet they keep coming back...

The iPad does not have a USB connector, but they have an USB attachment so you can transfer your photos from your camera. The are a number of photo editing apps available, some are good, some not so good. Working on your web site would be a little tricky. It depends if someone has created an app for your hosting platform or what your requirements are. There are a lot of tools.

For many years I've worked on MS DOS based systems and then Windows (versions 1, 2, 3, WFW, 95, 98, NT 3, NT 3.5, NT 4, Win2K, Win XP, Win Server 2003/2008, Vista, and whatever the new crap is), OS2, UNIX, Linux, and now OS X. The problem with Windows is that it needs a total code rewrite. Microsoft has been adding on to the codebase over the years and now it's a monster. A lot of the code that Windows runs on dates back to 1980s. I truly think they have been putting all their efforts in making it look different, so people will buy it again and again. I'm tired of having to buy the same crap with a different interface which changes where all the settings are.

Windows is based on a open system model. Apple uses a closed system model. Both models have their pros and cons. After nearly 30 years of working with various system, I'm starting to like the closed system model. It's less painful to maintain, and a lot more stable. And Apple tries not to introduce radical changes.

Systems are not perfect, but I think Apple is doing a better job at trying to make them easier to use and maintain. How things will evolve now that Steve Jobs is gone is anyone guess, but for now I'm sticking with apple. I know the time I spend supporting systems since I cut over to MAC OS X has dropped to a very low level. I used to spend a couple of hours a week fixing things that the users broke. Now its like a couple of hours every two or three months. Big difference, and a lot less stress.

I still have some old windows systems laying around my office and they still work, but the operating system is no longer supported so they are not safe to use to brows the web, or to access email. I had an even older MacBook, which was one of my son's first MACs, (he is an artist and needed a MAC for school) which is still being used to this day without any problems by one of his friends.

With maybe the exception of Apple's iOS devices, there really has not been anything new in 20 years. Most of the "new" stuff that has been added isn't really new, but there are sure a lot more features, that no one uses, or needs that have raised the level of complexity to where no one can manage them correctly and they are prone to breakage.

What I find funny is that UNIX, which was invented in the early 1970s, or its derivatives (primarily Linux), is what powers the internet, MAC OS X, iPhones/iPads, Andriods, and a host of other devices.

Keith

Could be worse. At least they didn't use ADA for the foundation legacy code.

or COBOL.

Well, my PC has been next thing to useless since I spent $200 to cure it. Running Sooooooo horribly slow. Won't perform a task. Loads a frame with a white out ghost of the task showing ... Won't load. Then, won't take a command to quit. It just won't let go. use cntrl/alt/delete to start the taskmanager ... It won't load. Then this am, I got blue screen again. So, I packed it back to Staples. Got a manager and the techs in a forum. 20 minutes of the tech telling the mgr and I that he fixed it and it had to be fixed. But, he couldnt boot it there on the counter. In his world, it was fixed. My world was a different story. The mgr wanted the tech to do it again. tech says it's fixed. It was sad. Tech finally decided I must gave broken it again by using the power button. I say "THIS power button here - in the middle of the deck - with the power symbol on it?". Yes. You are not supposed to ever use that to turn it off. "how are you supposed to control it then if it won't boot, gives blue screens, etc". "can we end this now, I have a business to run". And so, I have $200 back and a useless laptop. Guess I'm not done with the fun yet.
You will have to deal with iPhone posts a bit longer.

Well, for a few $$ more you can get a new laptop. Do you have some backup process set up for your data? Can Jim pull your data off the old drive? If not let me know. Maybe I can do it for you or find someone who can.

Thanks Keith.
I do use Carbonite online back up. Jim has offered to help. I hate to have to impose, but this particular subject isn't in my bag of tricks.
He's also mentioned dropping in a new version solid state hard drive. He'll make a judgment on the machine's worthiness.
Gary

I guess computer issues are going around like the flu. My work laptop just bit the dust on Friday.

I'd been telling IT that it was getting ready to die for a while now and managed to get some minor change made to how the drive is read but that was not enough. Just as I predicted, the machine died and all the Navy's horsemen could not start it again. It remains out for recovery/imaging.

It's funny that no matter how much is spent on tech support, unless you can fire the guy, the support is lame. Gary spends $200 to get a couple things reloaded and BS about a fix, the tax payers spent $8 Billion on the NMCI network and the result is the same... condescending BS from phone techs that know less than I and the attitude that only the user stands in the way of a smooth running network!

Even when you can fire the tech, it does not change things. You need to fire the managers. I've found over the years that most (over 51%) IT managers don,t know much about IT. That's why there techs are sub standard. The manager have no knowledge of their own to use to judge the quality of the work being performed or evaluate the skills of their subordinates.

I trust Jim will make the right decision. A solid state drive would be sweet.

are ssd reliable these days i keep hearing horror storys ,,,

Latest thing Tom. Change your life ...